


The Blood of the Covenant

by Kittycombs



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, dont at me, i just read a bunch of headcaon stuff on tumblr and now I have feels, so if any of this stuff is wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 03:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14887062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittycombs/pseuds/Kittycombs
Summary: In the heart of Gotham, there is a diner.





	The Blood of the Covenant

**Author's Note:**

> In case any of you thought that I was exclusively a Marvel gal, you're wrong.  
> Title from the saying, "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

In the heart of Gotham, there is a diner.

It’s open 24 hours, has all types of food, and mediocre coffee.

Kristy works the graveyard shift, has for almost five years. She rarely has more than two or three customers at a time.

Red Robin comes in at least twice a week and order one black coffee, ‘just a bit of sugar, please.’ He pays in crumpled ones.

Nightwing will drop into a seat at the counter occasionally, exhausted, but not too tired to offer her a smile as he politely asks for a plate of pancakes and a strawberry milkshake. He leaves two tens on the table.

One a few memorable occasions, Red Hood has dropped by. He grumbles our a request for waffles and a strawberry milkshake. Kristy mentioned once that Nightwing had also orders those milkshakes, and he stares at the window. “I won’t tell anyone though,” she says. His head whips around to look at her. On a lark, she winks at him. He snorts, and it could be a laugh. He drops three twenties on the table before he goes.

Robin will walk in and order pho. He doesn’t comment that it’s not that good pho, just has it all and quietly says, “thank you,” pays for it, and leaves a 50% tip.

Sometimes Red Robin and Robin will come and order omelettes and orange juice. They tip handsomely, both of them.

Even Batman will come around sometimes. He orders fried chicken at three in the morning with a large cola and a chocolate chip cookie. He leaves enough cash for the bill on the table, but under the plate of his cookie is tucked a fifty dollar bill.

Once, Batman and Nightwing showed up together, ordered their usual and didn’t talk to each other the entire time, but Kristy saw them embrace before they parted, their bodies silhouetted against the sunrise.

As much as she likes the vigilanties, the ones she’s really protective of are the Waynes.

Damien makes a beeline for the back and asks her if they have any rice. He eats it plain, nothing on the side, just water to drink, if he shows up alone. If he’s with Tim they order sandwiches and lemonade. With Dick, they split a pepperoni pizza and get two cherry colas. He always leaves a large tip with his debit card. He’s chatty with Dick, talking about animals. With Tim he rarely says a word, neither of them does, but the silence isn’t awkward.

Tim Drake always sits in a booth in the corner by the door. He often has a laptop or a notebook that he scribbles at. He orders fries and water with lemon, pays in cash, and sends his compliments to the chef. If he’s with Dick, they talk shop, even though everyone in the city know that Wayne Enterprises is a sensitive topic for the elder.

Dick Grayson is charming when he walks wearing his police uniform. He’s quiet, can’t even smile, when he shows up wearing loose sweatpants and a flannel shirt, haphazard and unmatched. He’s always put together in front of his siblings, and sometimes Kristy thinks she’s the only one who sees him this way. In uniform, he brings his buddies along and they order a lot of coffee and more desserts. On those nights when he shows up alone on his motorcycle, he has big bags under his eyes and his hair is a mess. He lives in Bludhaven now, and Kristy used to wonder why he bothered coming all this way, but then she saw the photo on the wall of a very young Dick and Bruce Wayne sharing a big brownie sundae, both with big smiles at each other. Sometimes Dick sits across from it and just stares, getting a hot chocolate to go. She understands the trip now.

When Bruce Wayne himself shows up, his tip alone could pay her rent for a solid two weeks. He’s quieter than she used to expect, back when her only exposure to the man was tabloids of him with beautiful women around him, throwing parties, or reports of another enormous charitable donation he’d made. Now it feels off for her to read about another imagined scandal. The quiet man who sits next to a drawn shade and asks for scrambled eggs, a hashbrown, and sausage, the man who wears jeans and loose t-shirts, doesn’t mesh with the man in crisp suits with his hair always slicked back. She tells him one time that maybe he should grow out the beard. He does, for two months, but it’s gone one day, and he says it itched.

One time, he shows up and orders one black coffee and stares out the window for hours, watches as the sun comes up, watches parents walk their children to the school bus, doesn't say a word when other people start piling into the diner, and he's still there when Kristy leaves. When she gets home, the news on her phone announces that it has been seven years since the death of Jason Todd, and the silent tears that had rolled down Bruce’s make sense now.

Dick Grayson is there one day, even more reticent  than the times Kristy thinks of as ‘nightmare nights,’ and orders a black coffee, very unusual for him. Bruce Wayne shows up and tries to talk to him, but falls silent after four failed attempts at conversation. On a hunch, Kristy looks something up on her phone. On this day, fifteen years ago, John and Mary Grayson had fallen to their deaths due to sabotage in front of the entire crowd and crew of Haly’s Circus. Dick doesn’t show any emotion at all, not until Bruce puts his hand on top of Dick’s on the table. Dick’s whole body shudders, and Bruce stands to change his seat. Dick cries and shakes into Bruce’s shoulder as the older man wraps his arms around him. Kristy can’t keep a sad sort of smile off her face. Imelda, the old woman who’s owned the restaurant for almost thirty years, tells Kristy to go home early, and as she leaves, for the first time in her life, she sees the ‘open’ sign switch off.

One day, early in the morning, the entire family shows up and orders an enormous breakfast, and slices of cake for dessert. Dick leads them all in a terrible and off-keep rendition of Happy Birthday and Bruce blushes and rolls his eyes. Kristy spots a man trying to take a picture with his camera a few booths away, and she not-at-all politely asks him to leave. There’s a public gala tonight to celebrate, he can get his pictures there. This, this is a family breakfast, just for them, no one else. She’s not their family, but part of her thinks of them as _her boys,_ this version of the Waynes that no one else sees, thinks of this restaurant as their safe haven, and she’ll protect that till the end.

Bruce smiles at her as she passes. The tip is enough for a whole month’s rent.

As far as Kristy knows, there is no blood shared between these boys, only the youngest is Bruce Wayne’s biological son, but even with her brothers and sisters, even as much as she loves her parents, Kristy doesn’t think she’ll ever know family quite this.

(One time, she sees Dick with a large bandage across his arm, right over where Nightwing’s suit had been slashed open the night before, and a few more things makes sense. She doesn’t mention it, accepts his excuse of a burn while cooking, and next time he shows up in the mask, she winks at him. He smiles conspiratorially back.)

These bonds were forged in fire, in blood and death and pain. But from the smile on Bruce’s face, surrounded by his dark-haired sons, she can tell it was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, I haven't actually read the comics, I just watch the 60's show, the animated series, the lego batman movie, and read a lot of batfam stuff on tumblr. If some of this stuff is wrong, I'm sorry, I just needed to get my feels out.


End file.
